STRUGGLES AHEAD
Finneran foresees fight over Cellucci's grand plans
By Tina Cassidy, Globe Staff, 11/05/98
Not so fast, governor.
House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran yesterday drew the line on Paul Cellucci's campaign wish list of cutting the income tax rate, getting a stadium deal for the New England Patriots, and approving the death penalty.
Finneran's comments effectively stifled Cellucci's post-election euphoria by making it clear that any measures the governor-elect wants passed must be approved by the Democratically-controlled House.
Just hours after Cellucci proclaimed that ''in Massachusetts, the governor sets the agenda,'' Finneran warned that the prospects are unlikely for cutting the income tax rate from 5.95 percent to 5 percent in the face of increasing funding demands for education.
''That could be a battleground,'' Finneran said.
And while Cellucci promised yesterday to fight for institution of the death penalty, which failed last year in the Legislature by one vote, Finneran said he is anticipating a fight over that as well.
As for the prospects of the Patriots getting state funding for land or infrastructure to support a new football facility, Finneran said team owner Robert Kraft should have taken the House's last offer of $52 million in road improvements because it was the best he was going to get.
''The only discernible trend here in the House, I think, is a retreat from the generous terms that were offered in July. There's a sentiment that we've already been very generous with the infrastructure down there [in Foxborough]. There's no reasonable reason for anyone to suggest they would leave, let alone threaten to leave'' the state if they don't get public support for a stadium, Finneran said.
But Cellucci made it clear he is trying to overpower Finneran with a show of public support, questioning why the speaker ''has dug his heels in'' on the matter and praising the Senate's last offer of $72 million in land and infrastructure. The House rejected the measure because of the land component.
''The citizens of Massachusetts have to let their House members know they want the Patriots,'' Cellucci said. ''That's one where the voters have to let their representative know what they want.''
It is a strategy that has not worked well in the past. And Finneran sounds as entrenched as ever on the stadium, saying that if the Red Sox are comfortable with the notion of receiving no taxpayer funding to subsidize a replacement for Fenway Park, than Kraft should be as well.
''How can the preeminent sports franchise in Boston accept the principles of the House and then the football franchise says that's not good enough for us, we're special?'' Finneran asked.
He predicted there would be a ''skirmish'' over the stadium but that Cellucci would be the loser, once again.
''There is an interesting internal dynamic,'' Finneran said. ''The Republicans in the House are with me all the way.
''They've spoken out, indicating their own limits of contributing public support for infrastructure or anything,'' he said. ''The governor may be isolated from his own party.''
Another battle looms over reducing the tax rate on earned income to 5 percent, a cut worth approximately $1 billion. Finneran warned that, in an uncertain economy, House members would strike down Cellucci's proposal to lower the rate.
''I don't know that you can take $1 billion off the balance sheet and continue to make the progress the governor says he wants to make'' on education, Finneran said. ''Just to embrace a tax for the sake of embracing a tax cut, generally speaking, is not wise, unless you know the economy is giving you the capacity to do other things.''
Education reform is expected to cost the state at least $200 million next year. That number could be pushed higher if test scores show students need remedial help or require more summer and afterschool programs.
''All I'm saying is it should not be embraced automatically, simply because it's become the centerpiece of the governor's campaign,'' Finneran said. ''My own sense of the voting public is that they, today, are attaching a higher priority to subsidizing improvements in education, rather than to an additional tax cut. If we can do both, we're delighted to do both.''
On capital punishment, Finneran said it is not clear how the votes would line up in the House, with Republicans losing two seats Tuesday.
''I don't know how that's going to break,'' Finneran said. ''I don't have any ideas what their sentiments are.''
Cellucci believes otherwise.
''I think we will probably have the votes this year,'' he said.
This story ran on page B06 of the Boston Globe on 11/05/98.
© Copyright 1998 Globe Newspaper Company.
